THE CUSTOMER

Riviana Foods is a leading rice company and marketer of wild rice. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ebro Foods, which operates in the rice sector across the globe through an extensive network of subsidiaries and brands in more than 80 countries spanning Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa.

THE PROVIDER

Franklin, Tennessee-based ProvisionAi offers sophisticated suites of optimization tools for load building and transportation load leveling that reduce total supply chain costs.

Like many companies over the past few years, Riviana has faced challenges when looking for trucking capacity, especially when demand spikes. One way companies can address this, even when capacity tightens, is to ensure all truckloads are optimized to their maximum legal capacity when they leave a facility.

To help its supply chain organization meet this goal, Riviana turned to Auto02 (Automatic Order Optimization), a load-building solution from ProvisionAi.

Selling a Broad Profile

As a large rice processor—its plant in Memphis, Tennessee moves more than 10,500 shipments annually—Riviana sells a wide range of products to retailers, industrial companies, and food service organizations, among other clients.

Shipments can vary from small, lightweight rice cups to 20-pound bags of rice geared to food service operations. “It’s a broad profile,” says Jennifer Phillips, Riviana’s director of transportation. Shipments generally travel by box car, intermodal, and truckload.

Riviana Foods is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ebro Foods, a global leader in the rice vertical. Ebro Foods’ network of subsidiaries and brands spans more than 80 countries across Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa.

The range of products and weights Riviana ships can present challenges when trying to load a truck so all the space within the trailer is fully utilized. Riviana had been using a load planning solution, but even so, trucks would often ‘weigh out’ before they ‘cubed out’, says Zachary Dale, Riviana’s supply chain continuous improvement manager.

Optimizing Truckloads

In the United States, most truckload shipments travel on 53-foot trailers that provide a bit more than 4,000 square feet of capacity, says Tom Moore, founder and CEO of ProvisionAi.

Most trucks traveling on highways can haul between 45,000 and 50,000 pounds. Because many of Riviana’s products—like sacks of rice—are heavy, shipments often meet the weight capacity of the truck before they’ve actually filled the space available.

The breadth of products Riviana offers and the range of pallet weights can also make it challenging to train new employees to properly load trucks.

“More efficient loading and better truck utilization could cut both the number of trucks on the road, as well as transportation costs,” Phillips says.

Generally, when shipping a variety of product sizes and weights, combining products of varying weights on a truck, rather than filling it with a single product, more efficiently uses the legal weight and space available. Even when dealing with slight differences in weight, there are opportunities to take advantage of that difference in the load design.

A Good Fit

When shipping a range of product sizes and weights, like Riviana does, combining products of varying weights on a truck, rather than filling it with a single product, more efficiently uses the legal weight and space available.

To help optimize truck capacity, Riviana began working with ProvisionAi. As Dale had been researching sustainability, a key initiative at Riviana, he came across information on the AutoO2 solution from ProvisionAi. “It sounded like a good fit and referenced a lot of the issues we were having,” he adds.

Auto02 load building software uses machine learning to optimize shipments, while it also considers more than 300 parameters, including product and customer-specific loading rules, among others.

For instance, a shipper may require that all shipments of a specific product family be placed in the tail of the truck, or that all pallets be shipped on the narrow dimension. The software can accommodate this. It has been deployed by companies around the globe and across verticals.

Along with enabling companies to fit more products on fewer trucks, the Auto02 solution manages the placement of pallets so that lighter weight products are placed on top of heavier ones—“eggs on top of bricks,” as Moore says.

In addition, pallets are placed so that they’re supported when, for instance, a truck must turn sharply. This helps eliminate much of the damage that can occur during transit and from material handling.

AutoO2 bolts on to companies’ enterprise resource planning and warehouse management systems, so it can create and guide large orders through execution. It also creates diagrams workers can follow to guide them as they load shipments onto the trucks. This helps ensure that what is planned actually is loaded, and that the resulting shipments comply with relevant regulations and are protected against most damage.

ROI In Weeks

In some cases, the solution has cut deployment freight expenditure by more than 10%. Many shippers see a return on their investment within a few weeks of going live, the company says.

As Riviana worked to implement the Auto 02 solution, Dale and his team sought input from multiple departments across the organization, including the warehouse, information technology, packaging, and transportation planning teams. This helped ensure all gained a solid understanding of the solution, its potential impact, and how it could help them load more efficiently.

“This helped with the success of the implementation,” Dale says. “Everyone was on the same page and understood the goals.”

Step-By-Step Implementation

The implementation process ran about four months, Dale says. Steps included cleaning the data, and some development in SAP. Among other actions, the teams needed to develop a way to electronically send information, such as the item master with the dimensional and weight data for each product.

In addition, the solution needed to transmit the requirements that the supply planning systems needed to ensure enough inventory would be on hand in customer-facing distribution centers.

For instance, a requirement might say that Location A needs 200 cases of wild rice. Most of the development used standard SAP functionality, Moore says.

Through the connection with Riviana’s supply planning system, Auto02 knows which items are headed to which distribution center. Based on this information, Auto02 can develop truckloads that are both legal and optimized.

When Auto02 went live in late 2022, most operators quickly learned how to use the load diagrams, Dale says. The Auto02 solution reduced the learning curve for new loaders by about 80%, Phillips adds.

Almost as soon as operators can read load patterns, they’re ready to begin loading; they don’t need to first become experts in the products themselves, as well as which are stackable and which aren’t.

Riviana’s supervisors can run the programs to create loads when operators come in each day. If the inventory of loads starts running low during their shift, the supervisors can generate additional plans.

Since implementing Auto02, Riviana has seen about a 3.5% increase in weight per truck. Because freight costs fluctuate, it’s difficult to attribute changes in overall freight expense to the software. However, the increase in weight per truck, “adds up in terms of cost savings,” Dale says.

Suggestions for Improvement

The ProvisionAi team has been flexible and open to suggestions that can improve the solution, Phillips says.

For instance, ProvisionAi helped Riviana streamline the process of importing Excel files for times when demand might veer from what was expected. This could occur when a special promotion is planned that will drive demand in specific locations, and the Riviana operations planning team needs to manually tell the system where to ship products.

Now, the system will still produce a loading diagram, even though the load has been created manually. “They’re helpful in coming up with solutions for any issues or for improving the system,” Dale says.

The ProvisionAi team also has offered suggestions to help Riviana continue to leverage the solution. For instance, the team suggested weighing trucks to understand “weight per load goals.” Because the total legal weight that can be driven on U.S. highways is 80,000 pounds, if a truck weighs 35,000 pounds, as many have, the payload can be 45,000 pounds.

Weighing the Options

Over the past several years, trucks have tended to become lighter, as manufacturers try to increase mileage and allow for higher payloads. However, a loader who is used to working with the heavier trucks of the past might assume a truck weighs more than it actually does.

“By taking the time to weigh each truck, rather than relying on memory, loaders might learn that some are 32,000 pounds,” Moore says. “This means they can increase payload targets to 48,000 pounds.”

Riviana currently has plans to implement Auto02 at its plant in Freeport, Texas, which is the company’s second-largest plant.

Case Study: Taking Up Space

Challenges:

Riviana needed to optimize truckloads to use as much trailer space as possible, cutting costs and number of trucks on the road.

Solution:

Implement Auto02 load optimization software from ProvisionAi.

Results:

An average increase in weight per truck of 3.5% and an 80% reduction in the training time many new loaders require.

Next Steps:

Implement Auto02 in Riviana’s Freeport, Texas plant.

THE CUSTOMER:

Musco Family Olive Co. is the country’s largest producer of black ripe olives. After more than eight decades in business, the third-generation, family-owned California company now works with more than 450 farmers and runs the first food-processing plant in the world to achieve a Level 2 Safe Quality Food ethical sourcing certification.

THE PROVIDER:

Founded in 1982, AFS Logistics, based in Shreveport, Louisiana, provides differentiated logistics services to more than 1,800 customers and employs more than 380 employees across seven locations.

Musco, which boasts eight decades of history, is the largest producer of black ripe olives in the United States. The company works with more than 450 California farmers, providing olives that are transported to four warehouses in the United States and then distributed to retailers across the country.

Musco’s olive-processing plant in California is a near-zero-waste facility and the first food-processing plant in the world to achieve a Level 2 Safe Quality Food ethical sourcing certification.

Despite its robust operations, Musco is still a relatively small, third-generation, family-run company. It doesn’t have extra resources it can easily allocate to areas outside its functional expertise—namely, olives.

Working within those constraints, Lin set several supply chain and logistics objectives: reduce manual processes, enhance the freight audit process, and boost the company’s ability to identify location and arrival times of in-transit freight so it could more proactively address customer questions and continue to provide quality service. Achieving these goals would also help Musco scale its operations and offset increasing logistics costs.

Lin kickstarted a partnership with AFS Logistics, with whom he’d worked at a previous company. Based in Shreveport, Louisiana, AFS provides logistics services, including freight audit and payment, as well as parcel, less-than-truckload, and transportation management services to more than 1,800 clients.

Revamping the Carrier Dynamic

The two companies first collaborated on a domestic managed transportation program, says Andy Dyer, president, transportation management for AFS.

At the time, Musco was working with a number of incumbent carriers. While Lin didn’t want to drop them, he wanted to make sure they were meeting Musco’s business needs, had solid safety records, and were reliable and cost-effective.

Through carrier reviews, Musco and AFS were able to confirm that the incumbent carriers would continue to provide optimal service.

In addition, AFS provided Musco with access to a range of additional carriers from across the country. As a result, Musco doubled its carrier mix.

ENSURING STRONG RELATIONSHIPS

The AFS team also guided Musco on the benefits of building relationships with carriers. Strong relationships help ensure Musco can maintain its partners not just in good times, but also when the business encounters challenges. “We stay loyal to our carriers as long as they’re within reason, while also introducing other carriers. Having that access has been huge,” Lin says.

As they accumulate data on carriers’ service levels, the partners also engage in network analysis. For instance, Musco and AFS work together to assess if it makes sense to adjust forward stocking locations, given changes in demand or customer demographics.

Musco previously lacked a coordinated process for tendering shipments. This occasionally led to double- or triple-brokering loads. And, some brokers would re-broker freight to asset-based carriers, prompting concerns about maintaining integrity in the chain of custody.

AFS now coordinates Musco’s annual freight bids. AFS only considers asset-based providers for the carrier network, reducing the likelihood of shipments being brokered multiple times. To ensure Musco can leverage cost-effective shipment options, AFS receives outbound freight shipment notices via electronic transmission. AFS can then access competitive rates from a national pool of vetted carriers.

Once a shipment is booked, the transaction automatically loads into Musco’s ERP system, streamlining the billing process and enabling shipment tracking. This reduces the amount of time previously spent on tasks like manually coordinating and managing shipments.

The managed transportation service from AFS also helps Musco adjust to market changes by providing information that helps to optimize the transportation mode for each shipment.

Branching out With Track and Trace, visibility

Before working with AFS, Musco’s lack of an effective track-and-trace system limited its visibility to shipments. Now, by using the AFS transportation management system (TMS), Musco has access to visibility on shipment location, as well as costs and carrier operating performance. This data enables Musco to address issues as they arise, so it can continue to maintain quality service.

This data also aids in reducing customer chargebacks, which Dyer says is a key capability for Musco. Retailers, and particularly grocers, can impose significant penalties when a supplier makes a mistake. Working with AFS, Musco is able to receive data from carriers on arrival and wait times that it previously could not access. With this data, Musco can challenge claims that, for instance, deliveries arrived after the scheduled delivery time.

In addition, because Musco hadn’t been rigorously auditing its less-than-truckload, truckload, or intermodal freight, management couldn’t ensure billing accuracy. And with limited visibility into freight costs and load status data, it was difficult to dispute claims on issues like on-time in-full, as well as customer deduction claims. As a result, Musco was at risk of overpaying accessorial charges.

Getting Serious About Audits

Musco Family Olive Co.’s processing plant in California is a near-zero-waste facility and the world’s first food-processing plant to achieve a Level 2 Safe Quality Food ethical sourcing certification.

To help Musco exert more control over fees and surcharges, AFS implemented an invoice audit process across all transportation modes. By providing a comprehensive review of every bill, Musco can recover many overcharges and minimize the risk of overpaying. Without this information and process, fighting fines and fees often becomes time consuming and cumbersome, Lin says.

The invoice audit process also consolidates Musco’s weekly bills into one invoice, providing timely insight into transportation costs.

Musco also worked with AFS to streamline its order fulfillment process. Now, Musco sends order details to AFS via an SQL (structured query language) download, which then feeds into the AFS TMS. AFS also provides a gateway to exchange files and messages with other external trading partners, such as carriers.

Now, when orders drop, Musco no longer needs to manually disseminate information across the company and enter it into the system, Lin says.

Over time, the relationship between Musco and AFS has expanded to include imported containers as well. On these international shipments, AFS acts as Musco’s advocate in the market.

Musco’s network of warehouses also underwent analysis as part of the new partnership with AFS. By reviewing the network’s costs and services, Musco determined it could consolidate some facilities, reducing overall inventory levels. The two companies continue to periodically tweak the network.

“Quarterly business reviews are a great opportunity to flesh out other opportunities from a service or from a cost standpoint,” Lin says. This also enables Musco to redeploy employees who’d previously been dedicated toward freight, he adds.

Enjoying Process-Driven Results

By implementing more efficient processes and technology, Musco lowered its total transportation spending by more than 10% in the first year of its partnership with AFS. It also identified additional opportunities for cost reduction, leading to another $50,000 in savings, also during the first year. Subsequent reviews have led to warehouse network optimization opportunities that Musco is currently pursuing, Lin adds.

Leveraging technology for gains

Musco also was able to double its carrier mix. And through the partnership, Musco has leveraged technology that helps it adopt a process-driven approach.

Becoming more aggressive about pursuing different shipping options is the next big frontier for Musco, Lin says. This could mean reducing the number of containers or even taking trucks off the road by shifting from a less-than-truckload to a multi-stop approach.

“We’re peeling back the onion and asking, ‘What exactly are we doing? And is there a different way versus just being efficient with what we’re doing?’” Lin explains.

Whatever strategies Musco decides to pursue, Lin says AFS is key to achieving their goals. “The AFS operations team is in constant communication with us when things are good, and they’re in front of it when there are hiccups,” he says. “We get talented people who know what they’re doing and can drive value in our decision making.”

Case Study: Growing the Grove

The Challenge

Introducing greater rigor and automation to Musco’s logistics and supply chain processes, with a goal of maintaining quality service and offsetting rising transportation costs.

The Solution

Musco partnered with AFS Logistics, leveraging the 3PL’s managed transportation service and implementing both its freight bill audit and payment and order fulfillment solutions. AFS also introduced greater structure to carrier relationships and regularly assesses the company’s logistics network.

The Results

Among other benefits, Musco lowered its transportation expense by more than 10% in the first year of the partnership, while identifying opportunities to gain an additional $50,000 in cost reduction, also during the first year of the partnership. It doubled its carrier mix and restructured roles and responsibilities to improve the value contributed by employees.

Next Steps

Evaluate different means of shipping to further cut costs and boost efficiencies.

THE CUSTOMER:

Bayer Crop Science is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition.

THE PROVIDER:

Blue Yonder is a supply chain management company operating as an independent subsidiary of Panasonic. Founded in 1985, the company is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, with offices globally.

To reach these goals, the company partnered with Ernst & Young, LLC to implement Blue Yonder’s transportation management solutions. It has since improved asset utilization, eliminated millions of miles traveled along with the emissions they would generate, and improved operational efficiency.

Bayer Crop Science develops solutions that help growers maximize yields, secure harvests, and sustainably grow nutritious food and feed. Its two main business lines are chemicals and seeds. The chemicals business tends to have more of a local focus, while the seed business is international, with more shipments moving between different countries, says Johnny Ivanyi, global head of distribution excellence.

Rolling Out a TMS

When it began its partnership with Blue Yonder, Bayer Crop Science started with domestic over-the-road and rail shipments. About one year later, it started to deploy the Blue Yonder transportation management system (TMS) in some regions, says Terence Leung, senior director, product marketing with Blue Yonder.

In 2020, Bayer Crop Science began digitalizing and standardizing its logistics operations globally. As part of this effort, it started to leverage more of the functionality available through Blue Yonder’s transportation management solution in its locations around the world.

As of 2023, Bayer Crop Science had implemented the Blue Yonder transportation management solution in about 65 countries. Installations are in place across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

Most locations can leverage the standard Blue Yonder TMS solution for about 80% of transactions, with 20% requiring some configuring for exceptions. Typically, the customizations are regional. For instance, legal requirements differ between Europe and North America, necessitating some customization.

Setting Goals

Three elements were most important in the implementation, Ivanyi says. First was the customer experience and ensuring on-time delivery; second was simplifying the transportation function to achieve cost savings; and third was furthering sustainability efforts.

Among its other solutions, Blue Yonder offers an intelligent, real-time supply chain platform that provides a single view of supply and demand. Blue Yonder can cover end-to-end supply chain needs, including network design, supply chain planning, manufacturing, and scheduling. Its solutions can help organizations across various industries and of different sizes digitally transform their supply chains.

In fall 2021, Panasonic announced that it had completed its acquisition of Blue Yonder. “It’s a match made in heaven,” Leung says, as it marries Blue Yonder’s software with Panasonic’s Internet of Things (IoT) hardware. Blue Yonder also works with other global project and hardware partners.

Blue Yonder’s transportation management system handles transportation from procurement to execution, with a focus on optimization. “We optimize routing, asset utilization, customer service, and sustainability,” Leung says.

The software can help companies calculate changes in greenhouse gas emissions and the number of empty miles they’re avoiding by optimizing delivery routes.

Managing the Variables

To accomplish this, Blue Yonder relies on algorithms, as well as artificial intelligence and machine learning tools that can incorporate multiple variables across different countries and routes. For example, the solution can provide advanced predictions of estimated arrival times, as well as granular carrier ratings.

The carrier ratings capabilities can handle multiple scenarios, such as identifying the carriers that can best handle shipments late on a Friday, or during weather events when it becomes necessary to make multiple stops. The solution takes into account the carrier’s history, learning from the transactions, so it can continually adjust its recommendations and provide a set of “fine grain ratings,” Leung says.

The TMS also offers dynamic pricing discovery, so shippers can instantly connect with carrier marketplaces to discover real-time market rates and capacity. They can review and choose the best freight rate across contracted and non-contracted carriers, and efficiently access additional carrier coverage to help manage spikes in shipment volume.

With this information, shippers can cut spot rates by up to half, and accelerate sourcing by up to 50%, Blue Yonder says.

Digitizing also can help organizations handle the complexity of omnichannel operations, where orders arrive via multiple channels and fulfillment has to handle eaches and not just pallets.

Another benefit of digitalization is that supply chain professionals can predict the impact of changes to the network, including sustainability benefits. They can also accelerate order handling and better manage disruptions. Through digitalization, “they can boost speed and delivery performance by reacting as a single supply chain unit,” Leung says.

Before its partnership with Blue Yonder, Bayer used multiple different systems and processes. Its Global Digital Logistics initiative is focused on standardizing systems and processes and leveraging Blue Yonder’s transportation management system.

At the start of Bayer Crop Science’s digital journey, the company created a community of about 30 subject matter expert employees across the globe, Ivanyi says. They’re able to share best practices and incorporate lessons learned from one implementation for future implementations.

Working with a third-party, Bayer also created and developed a digital learning series to help train people who were new to the system, Ivanyi says.

Redefine and Standardize

When implementing new solutions, it makes sense to redefine and standardize processes for the ideal digital state. “If you don’t have standardized process, you might break the digital chain,” Leung says.

For instance, an employee who continues to use a spreadsheet for transportation procurement negates the benefits of the automated solution.

During any technology configuration, a robust change management process can help encourage people to use the solutions being implemented. With Bayer Crop Science, the EY team assisted with change management, as well as the implementation, and making the business case for the initiatives.

The digital solutions currently being implemented are progressing from automation to also handling more strategic decision-making, Leung says. For instance, a system might identify exceptions and leverage artificial intelligence to recommend next steps for transportation or logistics operations.

By working with Blue Yonder to digitize its supply chain, Bayer Crop Science has experienced gains in several ways. “A main benefit is that all information is in one place,” Ivanyi says. Previously, the company’s varying systems and processes in different countries made it difficult to ensure it was serving all customers efficiently and effectively, to access enterprise-wide visibility, and to measure performance across units.

Moving to a single comprehensive transportation management system offers multiple benefits, Ivanyi says. It improves the customer experience, making things simpler and more productive. It enhances customer reception by using a TMS that is easy to adopt and has analytics behind it to show the benefits.

In addition, the system enhances sustainability by showing how reductions in miles traveled impacts carbon dioxide emissions.

The Blue Yonder TMS also enables companies to measure carrier performance against service level agreements. Machine learning capabilities can measure performance across granular scenarios, such as urgent requests. This additional data can help companies make better decisions about capacity and costs.

When it comes to getting shipments out the door, the Blue Yonder TMS streamlines that process as well. In the past, this operation often required working with multiple systems and placing calls to various departments, such as customer service, planning, and service providers. “Now, in a few minutes, the shipments can be moving,” Ivanyi says.

Finding New Uses

Bayer continues to find new ways to use the system. “The moment you have a system like a TMS, you start to play with it,” Ivanyi says.

Employees can review the metrics and be more proactive about making decisions to optimize their logistics operations. For instance, the solution can provide the optimal cost of an over-the-road shipment from one point to another, as well as how well it will meet service expectations. “When you start to get data, you can change behavior,” Ivanyi says.

The system also allows a shipper to connect with its logistics partners to change a route to make it more efficient. “With these metrics, you can be more proactive,” Ivanyi says.

Bayer Crop Science has been able to save between 3 and 5% in its transportation spend, boost asset utilization by 7%, and reduce empty miles traveled, the company says.

The company is looking at implementing the newest version of the TMS, which incorporates machine learning to improve decision-making and exception handling, across the globe.

Case Study: Planting the Seeds

The Challenges:

With several hundred locations in more than 70 countries, Bayer Crop Science was looking for greater visibility and access to information that could help it make fact-based logistics decisions and boost asset utilization, reduce freight costs, and enhance on-time delivery.

The Solution:

Bayer Crop Science partnered with Ernst & Young, LLC to implement Blue Yonder’s transportation management solution.

The Results:

Bayer Crop Science has improved asset utilization by 7%, eliminating millions of miles traveled, along with the emissions they would generate, and cutting between 3 and 5% of its transportation spend.

Next Steps:

Bayer Crop Science is looking at implementing the newest version of Blue Yonder’s transportation management system, which incorporates machine learning to improve decision-making and exception handling.

THE CUSTOMER:

Launched in 2016 in Quebec, Canada, JOELLE Collection sells quality, stylish women’s clothing, accessories, and jewelry online and in two retail stores.

THE PROVIDER:

The Descartes Systems Group Inc. offers on-demand, software-as-a-service solutions that address productivity, performance, and security for logistics-intensive businesses.

“JOELLE’s mission is to break the rules of fashion by putting women at the heart of our priorities in the making of our clothes,” says Isabelle Courchesne, director of operations with JOELLE Inc. The goal is to allow women to develop self-confidence and flourish, so they can evolve into the best version of themselves, she adds.

As the popularity of JOELLE Collection grew, its operations needed to keep pace. Management was looking to make several changes, including automating more inbound processes, increasing the company’s ability to pick and pack more orders, and reducing the risk of fulfillment errors.

In addition, JOELLE Collection’s inventory system needed to synchronize with the company’s Shopify sales platform, so it would accurately reflect actual warehouse inventory to online customers.

In late 2021, Courchesne and her colleagues started assessing whether Descartes’ Peoplevox e-commerce warehouse management solution and ShipRush multi-carrier e-commerce parcel shipping solution would match the company’s business model and improve JOELLE Collection’s fulfillment processes.

Improving Warehouse Operations

The management team at JOELLE Collection had seen a success story about another Peoplevox customer, also in the direct-to-consumer fashion and apparel industry, says Troy Graham, vice president of business development for Descartes.

Descartes applies a scanning-based approach to daily warehouse operations that helps ensure transaction accuracy and confirms that inventory numbers between storefronts and warehouse operations are consistent, helping to prevent overselling.

The solutions also can automate e-commerce operations and integrate multiple sales channels and marketplaces. Retailers and direct-to-consumer brands also can benefit from e-commerce-focused warehousing technology, parcel shipping capabilities and mobile fulfillment solutions.

The Peoplevox warehouse management solution, which more than 100 companies globally have successfully deployed, is geared to help mid-market, direct-to-consumer e-commerce brands manage inventory and accurately fulfill orders.

“Peoplevox helps companies deliver on the promise to customers to fulfill their orders on time and accurately the first time,” Graham says.

Many companies that deploy Descartes operate across multiple sales channels, including their own websites and brick-and-mortar stores, as well as on Amazon and other marketplaces. To keep customers happy, they need to avoid selling items that aren’t actually in stock.

This can happen in several ways. For instance, if a company places an order for 100 products but receives only 96, it still might record 100 to inventory. By working with Peoplevox to barcode scan each product into the warehouse, the company knows what’s actually in inventory, limiting the risk of selling items it doesn’t have.

Lost and Found

Peoplevox also can help companies locate products they didn’t know they had. This can occur when products have been shelved incorrectly and are seemingly lost.

The system also can be configured to prioritize certain orders, such as those that need to be filled within a specific time frame. Because Peoplevox automatically generates shipping labels when orders are dispatched, it cuts the overall time required to process an order.

Additionally, through its reporting capabilities, Peoplevox can help shippers assess the performance of their warehouses. The reports can show information such as the number of orders processed each day, among other metrics.

Reports can show employee productivity as well. In many growing e-commerce companies, the productivity between pickers can vary widely, and yet management has no way of uncovering the differences, Graham says. Once a company has this information, it can decide if, for instance, more training is needed or if some types of orders generally encounter roadblocks. “It’s like a fuel gauge in a car,” Graham says.

The reporting tools also can help managers assess how much order volume can grow before they need to bring on additional workers.

Growing Shipping Volume

Descartes’ ShipRush solution, which JOELLE Collection also implemented, is a widely integrated and quick-to-deploy multi-carrier parcel and less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping platform. It allows businesses to grow their shipping volume through advanced automation capabilities, a business rules engine, and a set of APIs (application programming interfaces) for rating, shipping and tracking.

The system connects e-commerce companies with the parcel and LTL carriers of their choice, using their own negotiated rates or rate discounts available through the platform.

Two common shipping challenges are picking the right carrier and determining optimal service level combinations. In some warehouses, it’s not unusual for packages to ship before anyone has checked how quickly they need to arrive at their destination. That can mean shippers pay for faster service than they actually need.

The Shiprush system leverages business rules to identify an optimal combination of carrier and service level combination. Graham provides an example: A company sells T-shirts directly to consumers, so its packages tend to be lightweight and headed for residential addresses. ShipRush can identify the transportation method best suited for these types of packages.

In 2021, before it began working with Descartes, JOELLE Collection had implemented a new inventory management system. This helped the team get comfortable with the basics of system implementation projects, which helped speed the process of implementing Descartes’ warehouse management and parcel shipping solutions, Courchesne says. In addition, the company’s warehouse had been mapped, and it already had all the necessary equipment.

In part because these steps had already occurred, JOELLE Collection and Descartes went from training to implementation to full production in about four months. The solutions went live in September 2022.

Ready, Set, Implement

A typical Peoplevox implementation starts with a kickoff call, Graham says. Next steps include preparing for implementation, migrating data from legacy systems, configuring the system to customer workflows and business rules, and then training from end to end.

After JOELLE Collection selected Descartes, the two companies held weekly training sessions focused on helping users get comfortable with the software. It doesn’t take long—often, new employees can become productive in less than one hour, Graham says.

After training is completed, Descartes transitions to the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) phase. At this point, the customer is hands-on and using the solution to validate its use cases.

When all integrations have been tested, planning starts for “Go Live.” Descartes supports customers through their go-live date and then for a few weeks after that. This helps ensure everything is running smoothly and the client is maximizing the solution’s efficiency.

Together, PeopleVox and ShipRush help direct-to-consumer brands like JOELLE Collection deliver quality customer service by focusing on several critical fulfillment practices, Graham says. These include confirming every order, shipping each order on time, even during peak seasons; shipping the right items in the right quantities to the right customers; and providing customers with visibility into the status of their orders, until they’ve been received.

Reaping the Benefits

The Descartes solutions enable JOELLE Collection to ship three times more parcels daily with the same number of employees. “It gave us real-time visibility over our inventory levels and allowed us to receive additional inventory in real time,” Courchesne says.

“The system also helps us produce multiple operational reports and evaluate employee performance while controlling operations remotely,” she adds.

Casebook Study: Always in Fashion

The Challenges

JOELLE Collection, a Quebec-based fashion brand, has grown substantially since its 2016 launch. A lack of manpower and an increase in inventory levels prompted management to consider automating more inbound processes. The company also wanted to boost its ability to pick and pack as many orders as possible and to reduce the risk of fulfillment errors. Any inventory system it chose would need to synchronize with the company’s Shopify sales platform to accurately reflect actual warehouse inventory to online customers.

The Solution

Together, two systems from Descartes—the Peoplevox e-commerce warehouse management solution and the ShipRush multi-carrier e-commerce parcel shipping solution—enable JOELLE Collection to provide accurate and timely order fulfillment and customer service.

The Results

The same number of warehouse employees now process three times the number of packages they previously were able to handle, while operational reports provide insight into warehouse performance.

THE CUSTOMER

Oliver Space sells premium, curated furniture sourced from top manufacturers designed for quality and durability. Customers can request a delivery date for as soon as three days after ordering. The Oliver Space team delivers, assembles, and places the furniture.

THE PROVIDER

SnapFulfil, offered by Synergy North America, based in Broomfield, Colorado, is a cloud-based, flexible, Tier 1 warehouse management system that is highly configurable and can adapt to meet evolving fulfillment demands.

Since mid-2022, Oliver Space has also offered customers the option to purchase not only its new items, but also products other customers have returned and that have been professionally cleaned and refurbished. These are sold at lower prices than the new items, enabling customers to watch both their budgets and the environment.

At the same time, handling and tracking returned items presents numerous supply chain challenges. To manage them, Oliver Space turned to SnapFulfil, a cloud-based, Tier-1, flexible warehouse management system (WMS).

“Oliver Space is building a circular economy for furniture,” says David Guckian, the company’s product manager.

Along with its curated catalog displaying modern furniture and accessories, Oliver Space works with customers who’ve decided to trade in the gently used furniture they’ve purchased from the company. It then deploys its white-glove service to pick up the items, after which technicians clean and refurbish them, employing the company’s nine-point refurbishment process. Customers who return furniture receive credit toward future orders.

Once the products have been refurbished, Oliver Space offers them for sale on its website. About 60% of the company’s catalog is currently offered in both new and refurbished condition.

Reducing Furniture Waste

“We’re aiming to disrupt the furniture shopping experience by reducing the tremendous amount of waste,” Guckian says. In 2018, more than 9.6 million tons of furniture ended up in landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Over the past six months, Oliver Space’s initiatives have kept nearly 200,000 pounds of furniture out of landfills.

At the same time, offering new and refurbished items adds complexity to the company’s business model. “We are constantly shipping out a variety of products, while trying to manage the returns and refurbishment in our circular ecosystem,” Guckian says.

For example, the company’s warehouse might hold a single stock-keeping unit (SKU) in several different conditions. “The process involves not only ensuring accurate stock counts, but also recording the right condition of the products,” he adds.

Another challenge is determining where best to house items in different stages of refurbishment, which requires insight into the products’ condition, along with more standard information, such as the rate at which they’re selling.

“We manage a tremendous number of elements, and we want to make sure we continue to create products our consumers favor, at conditions they want,” Guckian says.

Even as Oliver Space shifted to its purchase/trade model over the past year, its logistics systems remained largely the same as when the company launched.

Before working with SnapFulfil, Oliver Space relied on an internally developed enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. This solution allowed Guckian and his team to track inventory counts at different locations, but didn’t provide the detail necessary to implement a digital inventory management system. For example, managers wouldn’t know that a specific pillow was located in Aisle A, Row 10.

“We used spreadsheets to bridge the gap, but as we grew, managing became more difficult,” Guckian says. He and his team considered whether to build an updated system or look at what was available in the market.

Oliver Space’s research led them to the SnapFulfil warehouse management system. SnapFulfil says its solutions deliver cutting-edge technology, flexibility, and increased picking and shipping accuracy. It’s available as a subscription model, with pricing based on the number of users, and can be licensed in perpetuity.

Along with helping business-to-consumer and business-to-business companies rapidly grow, SnapFulfil also works with logistics providers.
The company typically completes its implementations in no more than 45 days. Once up and running, the SnapFulfil solution can be configured to meet evolving fulfillment demands, allowing companies to meet service level agreements, including during peak periods.

SnapFulfil’s customer roster includes e-commerce retailers, as well as healthcare, pharmaceutical, and agriculture firms, among others.

“We can help any operation that requires visibility, traceability, and resource management and efficiency,” says Charles Thompson, project manager. Everyone on the SnapFulfil leadership team brings warehouse experience and an understanding of supply chain pain points, he adds.

Configurable, Flexible, Transparent

The configurability of SnapFulfil’s solutions allows clients to efficiently onboard new customers, launch new products, or enter new markets. “Our main objectives are to give customers highly configurable, flexible, and transparent software,” Thompson says. The company also offers rapid and remote deployment and training.

If a client’s functionality requirements change, the SnapFulfil system can readily adapt, Thompson says, noting that the system’s configurability provides flexibility. Customers can handle some configuration themselves, adding even more flexibility.

The software also provides transparency, letting clients know where their products are and in what stages. For instance, a company can look up an order and see that it’s being picked and will be out the door in minutes.

When working with customers, the SnapFulfil team takes a collaborative, hands-on approach. “We consider our customers our partners, and we’re all there for one goal,” Thompson says.

Implementation typically starts with a kick-off meeting in which requirements and pain points are identified and used to inform the solution scope, design, and configuration. Generally, the more the solution can be leveraged right out of the box, the shorter the implementation timeline.

Prior to working with SnapFulfil, Oliver Space hadn’t gone outside to look for a warehouse management system. Company leaders recognized from the outset that they might not find a purchased solution that met their unique business needs.

To determine if that would be the case, Oliver Space employees outlined the key WMS components they felt were critical. Then, they initiated an in-depth request-for-proposal process and began evaluating several dozen externally developed tools.

A Meticulous Approach

“We took a meticulous approach,” Guckian says. He and his team considered different use cases and then checked how various solutions would handle them, requesting that each provider offer a demonstration or detailed steps outlining how it would handle the challenge.

For instance, if an item was received into the warehouse and technicians completed the professional refurbishment work process, Oliver Space would need to assign a condition code and stock status to that product before putting it in a storage location. So, Guckian and his team asked potential vendors how they would assign an item a specific condition attribute in their WMS and whether Oliver Space would be able to view stock counts by this attribute.

They also asked if the vendor could walk them through the process of assigning this attribute on both the web view and radio-frequency (RF) devices. “The process of assigning should be a seamless flow for our team using the RF devices,” Guckian says.

In addition, as an early-stage company that’s moving rapidly, Oliver Space also was looking for a partner that could flex and grow as it expanded its product lines and markets. Guckian and his team wanted a system that was easy to customize without engaging external parties. They also compared the cost of purchasing a system to building one internally.

After these exercises, only a few companies could meet about 90% of the items on the list. “In terms of implementation, scalability, and price, SnapFulfil was the best option,” Guckian says.

While SnapFulfil didn’t necessarily have every feature Guckian and his colleagues identified at the outset, the vendor offered to configure its system to meet Oliver Space’s needs, including a fast speed-to-value implementation.

“They didn’t cut corners or create operational challenges for our team,” he says. In addition, Oliver Space’s internal IT team is able to easily build different features into the SnapFulfil system.

Oliver Space began implementation in spring 2022 and completed integration with its ERP system in about six weeks.

User acceptance testing (UAT) was conducted in a non-live environment, although Oliver Space ran through all the scenarios as if it was live. Once testing was complete, Oliver Space cut over to its production environment, and then to its operational environment.

“This allowed us to switch the flip over the weekend. We came in on Monday and were operating at full capacity,” Guckian says.

Much of the implementation was handled remotely, due to COVID travel restrictions at the time.

The SnapFulfil system has increased inventory accuracy during cycle counts and dramatically reduced out-of-stock occurrences during order picking. Another significant benefit has been the ability to shift from laptops and spreadsheets and automate the tracking of returned products as they are refurbished, while also increasing accuracy.

This is key, given that the warehouse contains both finished goods and those that are actively being refurbished. “We’re constantly changing the statuses of these pieces,” Guckian notes. “Now, it’s all updated in our WMS and ERP, and reflected on our website. It’s been a huge time improvement.”

In addition, warehouse workers now can use handheld, touch-screen RF devices, rather than try to juggle laptops.

Oliver Space currently uses this system in its San Francisco warehouse and plans to roll it out to its other warehouses. “We’re expanding it meticulously, step-by-step,” Guckian says.

Casebook Study: Furnishing an Inventory Solution

The Challenge

Oliver Space needed to find a solution to accurately and efficiently track and record inventory, including returned and refurbished items.

The Solution

Remotely implement SnapFulfil’s flexible and configurable warehouse management system.

The Results

Increased accuracy during inventory cycle counts, fewer out-of-stocks, automated tracking of returned products, and more efficient warehouse processes.

Next Steps

Self-implement the solution to additional warehouses.

THE CUSTOMER
Based in Oregon, Illinois, E.D. Etnyre & Co. manufactures a wide range of maintenance equipment—asphalt spreaders, chip spreaders, storage tanks, and trailers—serving the asphalt road construction industry. The company operates under several brands, including Etnyre and BearCat Manufacturing.

THE PROVIDER
Tada Cognitive Solutions, based in Peoria, Illinois, simplifies data management with Digital Duplicate technology that connects people, products, and processes to provide collaboration, orchestration, and visibility across the enterprise ecosystem.

Yet even as Etnyre’s products continue to incorporate a growing range of technical advances to provide customers with quality road performance and reliability, its order-to-delivery process faced significant roadblocks.

The data the company needed to plan for production largely resided within its employee base, as well as in disparate information systems, many of which the company had outgrown. Lacking a single, enterprise-wide repository of information made it difficult for Etnyre to track material costs and other expenses, identify trends, and schedule production to avoid unnecessary costs.

To address these challenges, Etnyre turned to Tada Cognitive Solutions. The provider’s digital twin technology offers multiple benefits, including end-to-end visibility across Etnyre’s entire supply chain. It accomplishes this by efficiently connecting internal and external data from multiple systems, enabling Etnyre to quickly access accurate information, enhancing its ability to make informed, effective, and strategic business decisions.

Since 1898, the asphalt distributors, pull trailers, spreaders, sealers, and other products manufactured by E.D. Etnyre & Co. under several brands, including Etnyre and BearCat, have helped communities in many parts of the world maintain their roads. Since 2020, headcount at the Oregon, Illinois-based company has grown by more than 30%.

Etnyre’s equipment has also undergone tremendous advances over the past 124 years, progressing from products like a horse-drawn road sprinkler/oiler to today’s high-tech equipment. For instance, the computerized rate control for asphalt distributors, a capability offered on BearCat machines, boosts accuracy and eliminates operator calculations and adjustments.

We Are Family

Even as Etnyre has grown, it remains a “family-owned and family company,” says Justin Nelson, senior director of information technology. Many employees are among the second or third generations in their families to work at the firm. They’ve accumulated stores of knowledge about the company and its processes.

The challenge? It could be difficult for others to access the information and then leverage it to guide decisions.

Many of the company’s information systems had been built in-house several decades ago. Not only were they outdated, but they often failed to provide the information Etnyre management needed to move the business forward.

“At the end of each month and the end of each quarter, we would kill lots of trees,” Nelson says. “We’d create tons of paper reports.”

Outdated, Transactional Information

Along with the impact to the environment, the information contained in the reports often was outdated. “We could see only what happened three weeks ago,” Nelson says.

Moreover, the reports contained transactional information, detailing what products had been bought and sold, but didn’t provide “good, actionable intelligence,” like visibility to emerging trends, which could help management make more informed decisions, Nelson says.

In addition, information was scattered across multiple systems. For instance, quotes were in one system and sales orders in another. Because the solutions weren’t integrated, anyone searching for both types of information had to log into each system separately.

Then came the pandemic and its accompanying challenges, including labor shortages and supply chain upheaval. The result was “the perfect storm,” Nelson says.

It was time to change how Etnyre managed the information it generated, so leadership could better leverage it to drive growth. That would require integrating information from multiple systems and ensuring it was both accurate and easily available.

Connecting Systems

To meet this goal, Etnyre turned to Tada, whose name is an anagram for “data.” Tada’s Digital Duplicate technology forms a layer that enables communication across disparate systems, such as inventory, financial, and warehouse management solutions. “It brings together complicated systems under one roof,” says Rohan Parambi, senior director for business and product development at Tada. As a result, information flows between the systems.

To accomplish this, the Tada solution connects directly to source data in primary repositories like enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) and customer relationship management systems (CRMs), as well as in peripheral smaller systems like warehouse and inventory applications, or Access databases or spreadsheets. Traditionally, these systems haven’t been easily connected.

“Tada sat on top of the whole ecosystem and connected the dots,” Nelson says.

Once the Tada solution assembles this information, technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence help business leaders analyze the information and make rapid, intelligent business decisions, Parambi says.

Tada’s technology, along with connecting people, systems, and processes within an organization, can link vendors and customers, promoting collaboration and providing visibility across the end-to-end supply chain.

For example, once a customer places an order, the Tada system can check whether it’s in manufacturing or assembly. The company can see if an individual supplier or part is holding up the schedule. “They know immediately what the issue is,” Parambi says. This knowledge enables companies to quickly address any challenges, providing a competitive edge.

Etnyre implemented Tada’s solution in 2020. In the months leading up to the implementation, Etnyre made its data accessible to Tada’s team members, so they could enable the connections between the various systems.

Most areas of Etnyre were involved in the system implementation. The Tada system covers everything “from quote to cash,” so departments involved in or impacted by these functions were involved in the implementation.

Getting Smarter

By leveraging the Tada solution, Etnyre was able to create information dashboards showing, among other data, operating and sales trends over time, along with key performance indicators. “Almost overnight, we got a lot smarter about our business,” Nelson says.

For instance, supply chain and other leaders could easily see where inventory was being used and identify any suppliers that were falling short of their service-level agreements. With information no longer scattered across multiple systems, “we could shine a light on this,” Nelson says.

Etnyre implemented the system in phases. Nelson and his colleagues would make some information accessible, and then Tada would use it to develop, say, an inventory turns dashboard. Etnyre would make sure the dashboard met its information needs.

Because Tada’s solution is delivered over the internet, Etnyre didn’t have to implement new hardware or systems. The solution also sits as a layer outside Etnyre’s current systems, so it can be implemented without “breaking continuity,” Nelson says.

In contrast, when a company shifts from one system to another, it often can be difficult to continue producing analytics that include past information, allowing for apples-to-apples comparisons.

Tada completes many of its implementations within six to eight weeks, Parambi says.

The Relationship Is Key

One key differentiator from many other initiatives has been Etnyre’s strong relationship with Tada, Nelson says. As the two companies worked together, Tada would often identify information Etnyre might not have thought to ask for.

For instance, as Etnyre began using the Tada solution to analyze its supply chain, Tada built supplier scorecards that measure promised delivery dates against actual ones. This allowed Etnyre to identify any suppliers that were holding up orders. Etnyre also built a capacity planning tool, which was outside the initial project scope.

Along with the expertise they provided, Tada employees were on-site at Etnyre to help employees understand and learn the solution, and recognize the value it could provide. Their involvement helped encourage adoption across the organization.

“Tada has also been a key driver in breaking down information siloes,” Nelson says. Now, among other changes, sales can see planning and production scheduling and identify the locations of any bottlenecks. And as employees have become more used to sharing information, they’ve engaged in more collaboration and bridge-building. “That has been the biggest return on investment,” Nelson says.

In addition, “strategically, we’re a stronger organization because we have greater access to information,” he adds.

For instance, information made newly accessible because of the Tada solution has helped management more rigorously evaluate its product mix with respect to profitability.

“We’ve made decisions regarding where to divert resources to run our business most effectively,” Nelson says. In contrast, several years ago, many of these types of decisions were based on “conjecture and assumptions,” he adds.

In the future, Etnyre plans to expand its use of the Tada technology. Currently, the schedule is on hold as Etnyre replaces a range of other systems with a single ERP solution.

Casebook Study: Seeing Double

The Challenges

E.D. Etnyre, which produces maintenance equipment for asphalt roads under several brands, including Etnyre and BearCat Manufacturing, lacked timely visibility to its operations and sales data, as well as to its suppliers’ performance. Transaction information was scattered across multiple systems and retained by employees as tribal knowledge, making it difficult to access and bring together.

The Solution

Digital Duplicate technology from Tada Cognitive Solutions forms a layer that facilitates communication across disparate systems, including inventory, financial, and warehouse management solutions, among others.

The Results

Etnyre gained in-depth, timely information to its own and its suppliers’ performance. Implementing the Tada solution also helped to break down internal siloes to foster more collaboration. In addition, Etnyre has been able to more accurately assess the profitability of its multiple product lines and determine where to allocate resources.

Next Steps

Etnyre plans to expand its application of the Tada technology, although the schedule is yet to be determined.

Starborn Industries—its name reflects the era of the space race—has grown to become a national distributor and one of the largest importers of drywall screws in the country since its launch in 1961. It has also created its own fastener and product lines for the deck construction market.

The Customer

Starborn Industries, Inc. started as a wood products company in the early 1960s. Over the past five decades, it has found its niche in offering fasteners and screws for the deck construction market to customers across the globe.

The Provider

Sage Group plc offers cloud-based ERP, accounting, financial, and other software solutions. Sage trades on the London Stock Exchange and its 13,000 employees serve millions of customers across 23 countries.

As Starborn has expanded, leadership wanted to make sure the company effectively managed its warehouse operations so that transactions continued to flow each day. So the company turned to Sage Group plc, a provider of supply chain, inventory management, accounting, and other solutions.

“My focus was on improving processes and making everything as smooth as possible, including getting a better view into the supply chain and optimizing work order functionality,” says Nicolette Kavanagh, vice president of operations for Starborn.

The company also is working toward a more automated warehouse, a goal that requires tight warehouse management.

Growing Demand and Product Lines

Over the past several decades, demand for Starborn’s products has grown within the United States and internationally. Kavanagh manages Starborn’s state-of-the art warehouse and distribution facility in Edison, New Jersey. The company also maintains distribution operations in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, the Caribbean and Australia.

Since the late 1980s, the company has expanded its product line offerings while bringing to market its own fastener and related products, created for the deck construction market. The Heathcote, which Starborn launched in 2003, is a line of stainless-steel fasteners with color coated heads that match the colors of popular deck boards.

Several years later, Starborn introduced Smart-Bit, a pre-drilling and countersinking tool designed to match specific fasteners. Then in 2010, Starborn launched the Pro Plug System for Wood, which reduces the time it takes to install plugs by more than half, while also producing a cleaner result than is possible with traditional plugging methods.

As Starborn’s product lines and customer base have grown, so has its need for reliable, transparent warehouse and supply chain functions. That has been particularly true over the past few years, when containers became nearly impossible to obtain for overseas shipping, and the lead times for many products multiplied. The additional supply chain information Starborn has been able to glean from Sage X3, a cloud-based enterprise software, has been crucial to maintaining a steady supply of inventory for customers.

From Small Business to Global Enterprise

Sage offers a range of business management solutions, including accounting, payroll, and payment systems. Like many of the companies it serves, Sage started as a small business. It has since grown to a world-wide enterprise that offers flexible production, financial, and supply chain management tools.

Sage X3 offers capabilities in production management, including bill-of-materials planning and shop floor control. It also provides supply chain management, including purchasing and inventory management, among other functions. Its financial management capabilities include budgeting and accounting.

The approximately 6,000 customers across the globe using Sage X3 represent a variety of industries, says Rob Sinfield, vice president of product, Sage X3, and vice president of ISV success, also with Sage X3. The software provides “an end-to-end view of clients’ businesses, including their supply chains,” he says. This visibility enables these businesses to deliver higher levels of engagement to their customers.

Sage X3 also helps build resilient supply chains that can recover quickly from difficulties or challenges. In the supply chain world, resilience requires an ability to adapt to market changes, switch suppliers, or pivot sourcing strategies with minimal effort and impact on end customers. By providing end-to-end visibility to all supply chain activities, inter-dependencies, and workflows, Sage X3 helps manufacturers and distributors more effectively manage their supply chain operations.

The solution’s dashboards and visual process maps also provide overviews of these processes, as well as the ability to drill down into each part of a supply chain.

In addition, with Sage X3’s APIs and integration capabilities, companies can connect their systems to those of their suppliers, customers, and other business partners, removing unnecessary, often manual steps and reducing data input errors and processing delays.

Automating warehouse operations further expedites processes and reduces mistakes. This all helps to build resilient supply chains.

Less Word-of-Mouth, More RFPs

The approach businesses use to decide how to invest in ERP solutions has changed over the past several years, Sinfield says. Word-of-mouth has been replaced by sophisticated processes, with many potential customers issuing formal requests for information or proposals. During Starborn’s selection process, Sage demonstrated how its solutions could help drive efficiencies in the company’s supply chain.

Prior to its implementation of X3, Starborn didn’t have a full view of its supply chain. With more visibility into its supply chain, Starborn is able to give customers better information on their orders.

Kavanagh and her team also have been able to anticipate shortages and take steps to minimize their impact. That has been particularly helpful given the many supply chain challenges over the past few years.

Starborn began using Sage X3 in 2012, upgrading from a previous Sage product that was being discontinued. They began implementation in April and went live about six months later. “We were able to quickly hit the ground running,” Kavanagh says.

Among other benefits, Sage X3 has helped to provide the inventory information Starborn needs, while also enabling the company to better structure its customer database.

Sage X3 also supports Starborn’s commitment to continuous improvement, from optimizing inventory to improving work order functionality, and increasing throughput.

“X3 allows Starborn to manufacture one product and create different price points, design different quotes, or update an old quote in real time,” Kavanagh says. And while Starborn had a history of being paper-heavy, the Sage solution helped reduce that reliance.

DIY Tracking

Customers also appreciate the easy access to shipping information. Starborn provides the shipping method, company, and tracking numbers, so customers can track shipments on their own.

Over a period of several years, Starborn has moved many of its information solutions to the cloud. The transition started with Super Storm Sandy in October 2012. Cloud-based platforms can help keep systems running, even during natural disasters.

Starborn first moved Microsoft 365 and then its backups to the cloud. Next up was the upgrade to Sage X3, which resides in the cloud. In 2021, Starborn moved all its remaining applications to the cloud.

“We are now 100% cloud-based with the exception of one local application for production,” Kavanagh says. The shift to cloud-based solutions made it easier for employees to pick up and work from home during the pandemic, she adds.

Soon after the initial X3 implementation was complete, Starborn began introducing other complementary offerings, including some from Sage and others from its partners. The goal in all these implementations has been to maximize efficiency.

About one year after going live with X3, Starborn added Sage Enterprise Intelligence (SEI) from Tangerine Software. SEI is an integrated business intelligence and data management solution that helps leaders make informed decisions based on real-time data.

In 2019, Starborn began implementing Altec DocLink, a document management and process automation solution, as well as DataLinx, a warehouse management solution that works with Sage accounting solutions. In 2021, Starborn implemented Fortis Pay, a payments platform.

Sage X3 has helped Starborn increase efficiencies and “level up” to full automation to better serve customers, Kavanagh says.

Key outcomes include reducing man-hours, better inventory tracking, improved customer satisfaction, and support of the company’s continued growth. “Thanks to X3, our business has increased 50%, without requiring any increase in transactional employees,” Kavanagh says.

Starborn’s efforts to fully leverage the capabilities of X3 will continue. Kavanagh says she expects to keep improving processes, especially in fully implementing capabilities in production bills of materials and automating the warehouse.

“I’m confident that X3’s functionality and adaptability will continue to help us scale as our business grows, because there’s a lot of functionality that we haven’t yet deployed,” she says. “As a small company, it has been fun and exciting to see the ways that Sage has helped us grow.”

Casebook Study: Sage Advice

THE Challenge:

Finding a software solution that could provide automation, visibility, and process improvement as Starborn Industries increased the number of product lines it offered, while its customer base also grew.

THE Solution:

Sage X3, a cloud-based ERP and enterprise management solution that offers capabilities in production, supply chain, and financial management.

THE Results:

Improved visibility, better inventory tracking, and enhanced customer service. Even as business increased by 50%, Starborn Industries didn’t have to add transactional employees.

Casebook Study: Good on Paper

The Customer:

From its start nearly a century ago, when entrepreneur Harry E. Gould Sr. noticed an opportunity to supply the growing greeting card industry with domestic and international paper, OVOL USA has grown into one of North America’s largest distributors of printing, publishing, and business paper. Now part of Japan Pulp and Paper, OVOL USA spans multiple divisions in North America and across the globe.

The Provider:

ShippersEdge, a Burnsville, Minnesota-based provider of multi-carrier shipping software and transportation management systems. The company also offers API and EDI management and custom programming.

While many of OVOL USA’s divisions are in the paper business, they have "different requirements, different needs, different types of products, and different customers," Krizay says.

The divisions historically operated independently. Each generated its own profit-and-loss statement and handled its own purchasing and transportation, among other functions. This made achieving visibility across the enterprise, as well as economies of scale, more difficult.

To start to remedy this, Krizay and his colleagues developed a central logistics division that was able to leverage OVOL’s buying power. The new structure succeeded in both lowering costs and freeing employees to spend more time building their businesses, rather than on administrative tasks.

Finding a single TMS solution that would meet the needs of all divisions still proved challenging, however. In the approximately 10 years Krizay has been with OVOL USA, they’ve gone through three TMS solutions.

"It has been like Goldilocks and the three bears," he says.

The first solution was too small and handled only domestic shipments. While the second was backed by one of the industry’s largest vendors, it was not user friendly. Employees had to navigate multiple clicks to complete many processes. The solution also was costly to operate and update; simply making a new bill of lading could run into thousands of dollars, Krizay says.

Customer service also left much to be desired. Changing the way a function worked "took an act of Congress," Krizay says.

The Search is On

Krizay looked for a solution that would offer visibility within the United States and overseas, and for shipments moving across ocean and air. It also needed to support all OVOL divisions, helping them operate as efficiently as possible.

After issuing a request for proposal, Krizay connected with about 20 companies. An arduous process, he notes, but implementing a TMS requires a substantial outlay of money and time, making thorough due diligence essential.

Many vendors claimed their solutions would handle the functions critical to OVOL’s operations. Yet when Krizay probed deeper—say, asking them to demonstrate the steps needed to complete a process—it became clear many couldn’t, at least not efficiently.

For instance, Krizay asked about the steps required to change a shipment from one carrier to another. In general, when this occurs, the first carrier needs to be notified not to make a pickup, so OVOL isn’t incorrectly charged, and then the shipment needs to be moved to the correct carrier.

"It’s a real-world challenge and happens all the time," he says. Yet some systems required an employee to call the original carrier, cancel the shipment, and then rebook it with the second carrier—cutting little time from the existing process.

Continuing his research, Krizay came across ShippersEdge, a Burnsville, Minnesota-based provider of multi-carrier shipping software and transportation management systems. The company met the qualifications outlined within OVOL’s RFP, and Krizay added them to the list.

"When I was done with the first phone call, I knew where I wanted to go," he says. Ultimately, OVOL did choose ShippersEdge, and the two companies have been working together for several years.

Getting an Edge

ShippersEdge provides a suite of logistics tools, including a Tier 1 TMS that’s the backbone of its offerings, says Joe Taylor, director of engineering with the company. The company generally works with mid-size to large companies across multiple verticals. Over the past few years, it has focused its solutions on providing end-to-end visibility and management of logistics, including inbound freight, ocean freight, last mile, and everything in between.

A main reason OVOL chose ShippersEdge was the system’s user-friendliness. For instance, moving a shipment from one carrier to another was as simple as clicking a button that says "remove carrier." That action notifies the carrier’s application programming interface (API) of the cancellation, and the API sends a return message saying that the carrier received the cancellation notice. Then, an employee enters the new carrier, and the system handles and sends the paperwork. "It takes literally two minutes," Krizay says.

Krizay also confirmed the system could manage, among other functions, international tracking and foreign currencies. He reviewed the reports the system could provide and checked whether OVOL could create its own reports. For instance, a multi-divisional report that shows orders and revenue by the day, week, and month, as well as month-over-month and year-over-year, has proved valuable.

Implementation of ShippersEdge occurred virtually and was the easiest of all three systems, Krizay says. Just several weeks passed from the time the two companies signed the contract until they’d completed some necessary system-building and integration.

One of ShippersEdge’s core values is building software that’s intuitive, Taylor says. To that end, it brings in fifth graders—usually employees’ children—to experiment with its solutions when designing or modifying the user interface.

He and his colleagues observe the kids as they operate the software to determine if almost everyone can figure out how to, for instance, move a shipment. If it’s clear they can’t, the company adjusts the solution. This process has helped everyone learn how to make software that’s accessible and intuitive.

One example: when designing the initial software, it became clear the kids were struggling to figure out how to return to the start button after they’d created a shipment. That prompted developers to focus not just on the workflow, but on guiding the user back to the home page.

To make all processes more intuitive, the designers included large tabs at the top of the interface for tasks like obtaining a rate quote and creating shipments. "This came from the discussions we had and watching the fifth graders utilize the software," Taylor says.

When ShippersEdge began working with OVOL USA, it adapted some of its software to provide visibility for logistics across all the company’s business units. The system now can separate shipments and other data by business unit or division, while providing the parent organization with visibility to all units—a change that benefits every client.

Easy to do Business With

The ShippersEdge software is easy enough to use that new employees, assisted by online tutorials, can learn it within a few hours, Krizay says. OVOL also has been able to add functions and "not break the bank," Krizay says.

For example, at first, the feed between OVOL and ShippersEdge was one-way: customer service employees would enter an order and send it to ShippersEdge to be routed. To streamline the process even further, OVOL began moving carrier bills through its accounting software. Because they move directly, most match and automatically go to OVOL’s accounting software to be paid, saving time and money.

Some customers of OVOL’s divisions in Texas, which are larger and have their own delivery vehicles, require deliveries be completed by certain times, and some drivers there need to be placed on specific routes. Determining the routing used to consume hours each day. That has been cut to a few minutes, due to the algorithm ShippersEdge built that determines the route for each truck and driver, while working within the business rules.

Moving forward, OVOL plans to implement ShippersEdge’s dock scheduler in several locations in Texas. As part of this, Krizay’s team will place large screens in the warehouses, so employees can see what deliveries are coming in and going out, and at what time. Then they can have the right products and documents ready as soon as a truck arrives.

As important as its technology, ShippersEdge was "a refreshing company to deal with," Krizay says. Every Tuesday, Krizay, Taylor, and Tom Taylor, ShippersEdge’s president, connect to talk over how things are going and any changes underway.

When Krizay suggests a change to the solution, Tom Taylor has an amazing ability to build on the idea and make it even more effective, he says. That kind of back-and-forth and customer service is "worth its weight in gold," he adds.

Casebook Study: Good on Paper

THE CHALLENGE:
To find a transportation management system (TMS) that would work for OVOL USA’s multiple divisions with varying needs, while providing visibility across the entire company. The installation and user interface also needed to be straightforward.

THE SOLUTIONS:
Partner with ShippersEdge, which provides a Tier 1 TMS, as well as quality customer service.

THE RESULTS:
Management now has visibility across the organization’s supply chain, while multiple processes have been automated and streamlined, saving time and money. This includes the payment of carrier bills and the routing of trucks and drivers, while following specific business rules. In addition, the solution was less expensive than what OVOL had used previously.

NEXT STEPS:
OVOL USA plans to implement ShippersEdge’s dock scheduler in several locations in Texas. With this and the addition of large screens within the warehouses, employees will see the timing of inbound and outbound deliveries and can have the right products and documents ready as they’re needed.

THE PROVIDER
VAI is an independent mid-market ERP software developer that automates critical business functions for the distribution, manufacturing, retail, and service sectors. VAI’s solutions leverage business intelligence, analytics, mobility, and cloud technology to help customers make informed business decisions and empower mobile workforces.

Casebook Study: Yard Gains

When its enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution could no longer effectively handle its range of products, nor the multiple delivery channels it offers its clients, management began searching for a more robust replacement.

Among other features, the new solution needed to offer forecasting and analytic capabilities, an advanced mobile application, and the ability to assemble a single source of data across the company. Its search led LEPCO to VAI, a provider of ERP solutions focused on mid-market companies.

LEPCO offers more than 60,000 active stock-keeping units (SKUs); when repair parts are included, the number of SKUs jumps to more than 285,000. Its product lines range from tiny nuts and bolts to beefy lawn tractors.

While many consumers focus on lawn care equipment primarily in the summer, LEPCO offers products for all seasons, says Chris Reinhold, director of operations. In the fall, that equipment includes chain saws and leaf blowers; winter sales are heavier on snow blowers, while spring and summer are prime times for aerators and other lawn equipment.

“There’s constant variation and peaks and valleys with products from multiple manufacturers,” Reinhold says. A robust, modern ERP system was essential to managing the breadth and depth of LEPCO’s product lines.

The ability to meet the varying needs of LEPCO’s approximately 2,100 customers also was crucial, Reinhold says. The company is known for its customer service, and much of its business comes from repeat clients.

More than a Back Office System

As a result, management needed “more than just a back-office operating system,” says Rob Kintner, LEPCO’s controller and director of human resources. Instead, management needed an ERP solution that would help the company reach its goals.

As it became clear LEPCO would need to find a new ERP system, it initiated a request for proposal process. Management listed the multiple criteria by which it would assess potential vendors. The winning solution needed to offer forecasting and predictive analytics, a robust mobile application, and other advanced features. As important, LEPCO needed one source of data across its enterprise. The solution’s ability to facilitate quality customer service was also critical.

For LEPCO, quality service means, among other attributes, providing customers with multiple purchasing choices. “When customers want to buy, they buy how they want to buy,” Reinhold says. LEPCO doesn’t dictate the purchasing method to customers.

In addition to customers purchasing through dealers, LEPCO will, on behalf of its customers, drop ship to end users. It needed a system that could handle various types of sales.

Along with sales of new equipment, LEPCO provides repair parts. It also offers marketing materials to help its business customers establish appealing showrooms. In addition, LEPCO employees will assist when a customer is, for instance, preparing a bid to offer its services. It was important that the new ERP and website be able to facilitate these various functions.

Marrying the Products

In addition, LEPCO’s warehouse is organized so that different products—say, small nuts and bolts—are located in areas separate from lawn tractors and other larger equipment. The products are picked separately and then married at the end, as the orders are getting ready to be shipped out, says Frank Maggio, VAI project director. The ERP system had to accommodate this process.

VAI’s S2K solution met these requirements. It “provides us with a comprehensive ERP system that has fully integrated applications, including business analytics and intelligence, CRM, e-commerce and mobile,” Kintner says.

VAI, based in Ronkonkoma, New York, has been providing cloud-based ERP solutions to a range of industries for decades. “We’re experienced and bring deep knowledge,” says Kevin Beasley, chief information officer. Its solutions are geared to mid-market organizations, with a focus on the distribution, manufacturing, retail, and service sectors, among others.

Several attributes are key to VAI’s offerings. Its solutions are built on standards-based technologies like HTML5 and can run on a range of platforms.

While LEPCO is using an on-premise solution, customers choosing a cloud-based system don’t need to run their own system infrastructure. VAI also provides its cloud customers with a fully redundant data center.

In addition, VAI’s ERP solutions incorporate artificial intelligence capabilities, allowing for more advanced forecasting and predictive analytics, Beasley says.

VAI’s integrated ERP solution utilizes a single, central database, so clients no longer must manage disparate databases or assemble multiple spreadsheets to gain the information they need to guide their decision-making. The result is more accurate, consistent, and timely information, as all applications have access to the same, real-time data. “It’s tightly integrated together,” Beasley says.

A single database also streamlines operations. Organizations can update their records once and be confident the new information will be reflected across the organization. They no longer have to spend time making duplicate entries or copying files from one system to another. Finally, VAI’s unlimited user license option means clients can add users without paying additional software licensing and maintenance fees.

Part-time, On-Site, and Remote

LEPCO’s implementation of VAI’s S2K solution started in 2018, and the solution went live in 2019. Multiple LEPCO employees consistently worked part-time on the file conversion, programming, and implementation. “We’re a certain size, but not big enough to dedicate an entire group to ERP implementation,” Reinhold says.

VAI also had programmers working both on-site and remotely. The goal for all was to ensure the system could, from the start, maintain the service levels that differentiate LEPCO from its competitors.

Both the VAI and the older ERP system ran in parallel for about one month. “As important as it was to update the ERP, nobody wanted to lose any data during the transition,” Reinhold says.

Management also needed the switch to occur after one of its peak selling seasons. This would allow more time to make any adjustments needed before sales again increased.

In November 2019, LEPCO shifted to VAI’s S2K solution. “We functioned as a partnership and got it done in about one year,” Beasley says.

Since the launch, LEPCO has been leveraging S2K to run multiple functions, including e-commerce, shipping, and inventory. “Our focus since our go-live has been to stabilize S2K and maintain the highest level of service,” Kintner says.

Moreover, LEPCO’s user experience has improved significantly, when compared to its previous ERP software, Kintner says. That’s largely a result of point-and-click functionality, rather than “the old green screen menu-driven operation,” he adds.

LEPCO also has leveraged S2K’s technology to gain efficiencies by developing the ability to upload and process data, such as billings, warranties, rebates, incentives, and vendor invoices, through the system. “A successful distribution model demands greater efficiencies and reliance upon technology to execute operations, versus hiring additional employees to process volume-related transactions,” Kintner says.

More recently, LEPCO has been transitioning to the next phase of its ERP optimization, and focusing on specific modules of the system, including order entry, warehouse operations, and e-commerce. The goal is to more efficiently handle inventory availability, as well as backorders and allocations.

“These are key areas of our business where we excel and determine our customers’ experience,” Kintner says, noting that S2K provides the ability to customize programming so LEPCO can meet the needs of its suppliers and customers, while maintaining stellar service levels.

LEPCO also has been focused on building greater intelligence within various modules, including order entry, and accounts payable and receivable. The goal of these efforts is to identify issues and opportunities and continually improve service levels, Kintner says. This also includes monitoring power system performance, in case an issue arises, such as a trial balance that’s out of balance, or challenges in posting.

Focus on E-Commerce

Another significant focus is e-commerce functionality. LEPCO continues to enhance its accounting- and billing-related functionality for dealers and customers. It has also built greater transparency for dealers to check the availability of inventory online.

Recently, LEPCO launched an S2K Smart Center for its employees, with a cleaner portal for each role. For example, accounts payable includes only KPIs associated with that role. “We look forward to continuing to see VAI develop the Smart Center portal as the front-end entry point of the ERP system and all its applications,” Kintner says.

As critical as the software is, Kintner notes that the people and support within VAI have been significant to the success of LEPCO’s ERP implementation.”The service and organizational support of an ERP software provider seem to be significantly overlooked in the marketplace,” he says. Instead, the focus is on the software, rather than the people supporting it.

“VAI’s partnership is important, and it has been a valuable part of our integration into S2K,” Kintner says. “We look forward to continuing to build our long-term partnership.”

Casebook Study: Yard Gains

The Challenge

LEPCO needed to replace its outdated ERP system. The new solution had to incorporate several attributes, including mobile and analytic capabilities, the ability to handle thousands of SKUs and multiple distribution channels, and the ability to provide a single source of data throughout the organization.

The Solution

Through an RFP process, LEPCO partnered with VAI to implement its S2K ERP solution.

Results

Among other benefits, LEPCO’s user experience has been enhanced with the opportunity for future growth. LEPCO has been able to customize S2K programming to meet the needs of its suppliers and customers and maintain the quality service that distinguishes it from competitors.

Next Steps

Enhance and activate more features of the system, including the Smart Center portals.

THE PROVIDER
San Mateo, California-based NetSuite is a cloud computing company that provides software and services to manage business finances, operations, and customer relations. Founded in 1998, it was acquired by Oracle Corporation in 2016, prompting its name change to Oracle NetSuite.

Casebook Study: Shine a Light

Bonomo assumed his current role in 2015 after seven years of performing part-time accounting duties. “When I came on board full-time, I sought to hone operations and look at the efficiencies Regina Andrew can deliver,” he says.

The company sprang from the imagination of real-life couple Carla Regina and James Andrew, who founded their Detroit-based business in 1998. Their initial focus centered on case goods—furniture such as chests, dressers, bookshelves, and cabinets designed for storage.

REGINA ANDREW SEEs THE Light

It was a foray into decorative lighting in the early 2000s that put them on the map. Today, Regina Andrew markets itself as a lifestyle brand specializing in lighting, furniture, and décor.

In simple terms, Regina Andrew creates beautiful products. It designs and fabricates prototypes stateside, manufactures with its partners overseas, and ships finished product to its Michigan headquarters where it is warehoused. Ultimately, products are picked and packed and delivered to customers.

First stop on the campaign to hone Regina Andrew’s supply chain operations was to overhaul its enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM) systems. It sought to gain an omnichannel commerce platform that would provide full visibility into its inventory and entire supply chain.

The company—which employs 44 full-time individuals and another 35 outside sale reps, and uses sourcing agencies in China, India and Vietnam—also wanted to ensure all its data was housed in one place so that each of its teams could easily access it. After considering several cloud computing companies, Regina Andrew landed on Oracle NetSuite in 2015 and has been a customer ever since.

“You’ve got to analyze the functionality and ask a lot of questions about any technology you invest in,” advises Bonomo. “And then you have to tailor the solution to fit your business needs.”

Leveraging Oracle Technology

One benefit to Regina Andrew’s particular choice of cloud business management software is the ability to take advantage of the robust Oracle infrastructure while running the NetSuite application. It is possible to leverage Oracle technology such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and blockchain.

“A nice benefit of Oracle NetSuite is its vast community,” Bonomo notes. “You can reach out to the community to figure out how things are done and learn different ways to achieve your goals. Asking lots of questions is key.”

As for tailoring a solution to meet Regina Andrew’s challenges, Bonomo readily admits the process is ongoing. “It’s never finished because there’s always another efficiency to achieve,” he says. “That’s one way we manage to elevate our employees and our workforce. Instead of just throwing people at a challenge, we prefer to throw technology and to look at systems and processes.”

Power Source

“It’s common for our product-based customers to outgrow their ERP and CRM systems,” says Gavin Davidson, industry product manager at Oracle NetSuite. He points out that NetSuite was basically founded on three pillars—financials, commerce, and CRM.

“We find the use of CRM and commerce tools is higher for the vast majority of our product industries—manufacturers, distributors and retailers—than some other verticals,” he says. “So, NetSuite fit in nicely with Regina Andrew’s business model.”

For any business coming from an environment where every division operates in a silo—meaning they can’t share information because of system limitations—Oracle NetSuite cloud business management software frequently is a game changer.

“Users no longer have to fight fires dealing with siloed systems,” says Chris Benner, a master industry principal at Oracle NetSuite. “They appreciate being able to look at all their data—financials, inventory, sales—in one place.

“The system also offers the ability to do what we call ‘safe searches’ where users can go in, make a query, and find any type of customer, transaction, or data,” Benner adds. “Having it all at their fingertips is very appealing.”

Dimmer Switch

When COVID hit, there was the potential for the lights to go out, or at the very least dim, at Regina Andrew. As it turned out, they merely flickered.

“It’s fortunate that we had NetSuite,” recalls Bonomo. “When we sent our people home, we gave them a laptop or a computer to take along and set up their network. Meanwhile, our IT team made sure everything was secure so our employees could work from home and continue to handle orders and processes.”

The only difficulty COVID posed was centered around the company’s warehouse operations. “We lost a lot of our business partners, and we were shut down for about one month,” says Bonomo. “Later we were able to work with a small group of people through shifts, incorporating COVID protocols to assemble teams.”

FROM ADVERSITY TO OPPORTUNITY

Preferring to look on the bright side, Regina Andrew viewed the temporary warehouse situation as an opportunity.

“When we sent our customer and quality care people home to work remotely, it forced our warehouse team to dig in and ask a lot of NetSuite questions,” Bonomo explains.

As they went about the business of processing orders, picking, packing, shipping, and receiving containers, there was no one else around if they ran into a problem. “Team members couldn’t wander into someone’s office and say, ‘Hey, this order is stuck, go fix it.’ They had to do it themselves.

“Remote work made them a lot more efficient,” he adds. “Their ownership of the ability to tackle the problem was beneficial. It made us a much stronger company.”

The warehouse team’s experience reflects Oracle NetSuite culture. “One of our goals is that NetSuite not just be easy to use but also consistent to use,” says Davidson. “We tell users if you learn to do one type of transaction—for instance, a quote or a sales order—then you can enter anything. Purchase orders, invoices, and work orders are all based on the same template. There is a lot of similarity across the system.”

The consistency of the experience encourages users to stretch and try other things they may not have tried before.

Regina Andrew reported 108.8% year-over-year growth in May 2021. It considers itself lucky to be in the home goods industry since so many people have been decorating their homes over the past 18 months.

“Customers analyzed their virtual meeting backgrounds then decided to get rid of a table or floor lamp and replace it with something new,” says Bonomo.

Shopping Forever Changed

For a business such as Regina Andrew, the pandemic has proved interesting.

“During much of last year we focused on delivering our products to people’s houses through our various partners and our own website,” says Bonomo.

However, even with stores and design centers re-opening and lots of product being bought, he doesn’t see the traditional shopping experience coming back full force. “People are so used to shopping on their phone and through e-commerce that if a company is not online, its product is probably not going to be found,” Bonomo says.

Keeping Customers in the Loop

Regina Andrew is pleased to be able to show real-time, as well as future, availability on its website. “We can offer that information to customers because the front end of our website is hooked into the back end of our website, which is NetSuite,” Bonomo explains. “As we approve and process orders throughout the day, we can give these pieces of information to customers, so they experience a more enjoyable buying space.”

For a business that was planning on a conservative growth ratio of 30% this year, Regina Andrew is actually on pace to grow 71% given its current run rate.

Its future shines bright.

Casebook Study: Shine a Light

The Challenge

Home décor and lighting brand Regina Andrew needed to update its enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management systems. The business operates in both the business-to-business marketplace and as a direct-to-consumer e-tailer.

The Solution

By implementing Oracle NetSuite cloud business management software and services, the brand gained an omnichannel commerce platform. Regina Andrew achieved full visibility into its inventory and supply chain, as well as centralized data.

The Results

By implementing Oracle NetSuite system solutions, Regina Andrew is experiencing hyper growth after the pandemic led to an e-commerce sales explosion.

Next Steps

Regina Andrew is currently working on an advanced warehouse management solution with Oracle NetSuite. It would also like to lean into more analytics.